The Oklahoma City Thunder continues its hot streak with a 7th consecutive win defeating the Rockets 98-80 and holding Houston to a season-low of 80 points.

The Thunder were without Russell Westbrook last night as he continues to heal from a left ankle sprain he suffered during the Thunder’s win over the Pelicans on Monday night, but that didn’t detour this team from coming out hot on defense and giving the Rockets the worst scoring game any team in the league has had this far in the season.

The Thunder, not having the greatest night on offense, were still held to under 100 points, and James Harden noted how this was a better night for the Rockets’ defense than it was on the offensive side of the ball.

“We kept them under 100,” Harden said postgame. “That’s pretty good. We just can’t score the basketball.”

The Thunder finish 44.4 percent from the field and only 24.3 percent from downtown, but were 17-24 from the free throw line, and were able to send a {usually} good offensive team like the Rockets home with only their second road loss of the season.

My Takeaways:

This Thunder defense is proving to be much better than we may have initially thought. Players like Terrance Ferguson, Nerlens Noel and Steven Adams are showing dramatic defensive improvements from where this team started at the beginning of the season. This should be comforting to Thunder fans knowing the Thunder don’t even have their star defender, Andre Roberson, back yet, and this team is still able to deliver like this on the defensive side. Just wait until Roberson is back and healthy.

The Thunder have proven more than once this season they’re able to hold their own without Russ on the court. A loss to Golden State kicked off the season, and yes the team was without Russ, but it wasn’t a total blowout, and the Thunder defense held shooters like Klay Thompson to a low scoring night. The Thunder were able to finish business when Russ went down against the Pelicans, cleaned up in Cleveland a few nights later, then brought another win to the franchise against the Rockets last night. This team is good. A slow start may be just what they needed to ignite this kind success.

The Thunder will lose, and that’s ok. This streak may not go on for the remainder of the season, but Thunder fans should not panic when it does come to an end. The Thunder have an incredibly talented backup point guard in Dennis Schröder, are playing great defense, and have players like Jerami Grant, Terrance Ferguson and Hamidou Diallo who improve with each game. Something is starting to click with this team, and if they come out to fight like they have been the past few weeks, this should be an exciting season for Oklahoma City.

The Thunder improve to 7-4 in the season, 4-2 at home, and the team will be in Dallas to take on the Mavericks on Saturday night before returning home to host the Phoenix Suns for the second time this season.